Choosing an Attorney for Your LPA in Wales

Who Can Be an Attorney?

The rules are straightforward. Any person aged 18 or over with mental capacity can be appointed as an attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney in Wales. They do not need to be a solicitor, a professional, or even a UK resident. Family members — including spouses, adult children, siblings, and in-laws — are the most common choice by a wide margin.

For a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, the attorney must not be bankrupt or subject to a debt relief order. An undischarged bankrupt cannot manage someone else's financial affairs, for obvious reasons. This restriction does not apply to Health and Welfare LPAs, where financial standing is irrelevant to the role.

There is no requirement that the attorney lives in Wales or even in the UK, though appointing someone overseas creates practical difficulties — attending bank meetings, handling property transactions, and liaising with Welsh local authorities all become harder from abroad.

Appointing Your Spouse or Partner

A spouse or civil partner is the default choice for many couples, and it makes intuitive sense: they already share financial responsibilities and know each other's healthcare preferences. But appointing only your spouse creates a single point of failure.

If your spouse develops their own health problems, becomes unable to act, or dies before you, the LPA becomes unusable unless you have named a replacement attorney. For couples in their 60s and 70s — the age bracket where LPAs are most commonly created — this is not a remote risk.

The stronger approach: appoint your spouse as the primary attorney and name an adult child or trusted friend as a replacement attorney. The replacement steps in automatically if the primary attorney can no longer act, without any need to return to court.

One Attorney or Several?

You can appoint a single attorney or multiple attorneys. If you appoint more than one, you must decide how they will work together. The three options under the Mental Capacity Act 2005:

Jointly — all attorneys must agree on every decision. This provides maximum oversight but creates a practical problem: if one attorney is unavailable (ill, travelling, or simply unreachable), no decisions can be made at all. If one attorney dies, the LPA stops working for joint decisions unless you have stated otherwise in the instructions or named replacements.

Jointly and severally — each attorney can act independently on any decision. This is the most flexible option and the one most solicitors recommend. Any single attorney can sign documents, instruct banks, or make care decisions without needing the others' agreement.

Jointly for some decisions, jointly and severally for others — a hybrid approach where you specify which decisions require unanimous agreement. This sounds precise but is the leading cause of OPG rejections for drafting errors. The instructions must be legally clear and unambiguous, and many DIY applicants get the wording wrong.

For most Welsh families, jointly and severally with a named replacement attorney offers the best balance of flexibility and safety.

Replacement Attorneys — Do Not Skip This

A replacement attorney steps in if a primary attorney can no longer act — whether due to death, incapacity, bankruptcy (for financial LPAs), or a decision to stop being an attorney. Without a replacement, the LPA may partially or fully fail.

If you appointed two attorneys to act jointly and one dies, the LPA stops working for joint decisions unless you stated otherwise in the instructions or named a replacement attorney. If you appointed them jointly and severally, the surviving attorney can continue — but you have lost your backup.

Replacement attorneys cost nothing extra. The £92 registration fee per LPA is the same whether you name zero or three replacements. There is no good reason to leave this section blank.

Family Dynamics and Conflicts

The most common mistake is not a legal error — it is a family one. Appointing multiple children as joint attorneys when those children do not get along creates a deadlock machine. The OPG and the Court of Protection regularly handle disputes between sibling attorneys who cannot agree on care placements, property sales, or spending decisions.

If family relationships are complicated, consider appointing one trusted child as sole attorney with another as replacement, rather than forcing them to act together. Alternatively, appointing one family member alongside a professional attorney (such as a solicitor) provides independent oversight but adds ongoing fees.

The Wales LPA toolkit includes a decision framework for choosing attorneys, covering the joint vs. several decision, replacement attorney planning, and common family scenarios.

See more Wales guides →